I have been disappointed in Perseids Meteor Shower. Haven't seen a single meteor even tho I look at midnight. It is probably because there is a streetlight across the street. Tonight is supposed to be the best. We'll see. Has anyone seen meteors?
It's much tougher to see meteors what with all the ambient light we get. However, I saw c. 5 in one hour in the NE about midnight on the second night of the shower. There was a great show on the other night about how little of the stars are seen by most people anymore and the possible effects it has on us as a species. Also, what it is doing to other creatures that need the strict day/night differentiation. Disorients birds, etc.
We didn't have much luck with this year's meteor shower either...and there is no ambient light up here in the mountains. I think maybe the smoky haze from the western fires obscured it. The smoke has, however, given us some spectacular sunsets.
The lack of true darkness, not the meteor shower, is affecting all of us to a degree that I didn't think that much about until viewing the short film I saw on PBS. It is fascinating: http://www.pbs.org/pov/citydark/ Here's the blurb: Is darkness becoming extinct? When filmmaker Ian Cheney moves from rural Maine to New York City and discovers streets awash in light and skies devoid of stars, he embarks on a journey to America’s brightest and darkest corners, asking astronomers, cancer researchers and ecologists what is lost in the glare of city lights. Blending a humorous, searching narrative with poetic footage of the night sky, The City Dark provides a fascinating introduction to the science of the dark and an exploration of our relationship to the stars.
There is so much ambient light in Sun City....plus there is a street light by our driveway... that navigating the house in the middle of the night is easy, no night lights needed. It's is always a shock when we come back to Colorado and when it's dark....it is pitch black and I can't see anything......I appreciate the moonlit nights more here in Colorado. I wonder if the theory of the lack of true darkness affecting us holds true, as so many nights during the month are lit by the moon and also make stargazing difficult and light up our surroundings.
If you watch the film, it will be interesting to see what you think about the findings. It made a lot of sense to me esp. how birds can navigate by natural lights but get thrown off by all the other lights and there is a high bird mortality. The info about the sea turtles and how they used to find the ocean with no problem since they aimed for the brightest place which was water with reflected moonlight and now they go inland towards city and dry up. We are very much out of tune with circadian rhythms and this is just another way.
